In industry, articles are sometimes treated by subjecting them to propelled streams of media as opposed to immersion in baths of fluid or chambers containing gases or steam. Such propelled streams may include blasts of particles for frictional effect or jets of steam, water or other solvents with or without friction producing particles. One reason for utilizing propelled streams is to forcefully dislodge matter which would require a long time to dissolve in a bath. Another reason is to minimize cross-contamination caused by a transfer of dislodged matter between articles.
Significant handling problems may be involved in the treatment of some small articles. For example, chips of material used in solid state electronic devices are so miniature and light in weight that it is difficult to individually manipulate and securely hold one article separately from another. Moreover, for routine treatment such as cleaning, rinsing and drying, it is not normally economically feasible to handle such chips on an individual basis. Accordingly, nearly all solid state chips, e.g., silicon, germanium and garnet chips, are treated extensively while they are still a part of a much larger wafer. Once such chips are separated from a wafer, they receive little further attention until they are bonded to a substrate or otherwise incorporated into a device package. Of course while chips are waiting to be packaged or when they are shipped between manufacturing facilities, they should be protected in some sort of container.
A practical method of handling solid state chips which are expensive enough to warrant special protection, such as from being abraded by commingling in a container, is to place them individually in pockets in a carrier. One such carrier has a flat, rectangular configuration with a plurality of recessed pockets and a clear cover. Such carriers are made of several types of plastic, they are inexpensive and easy to handle and sometimes include drain apertures in the pockets to facilitate washing chips therein. Some suppliers provide plastic screens to replace the covers so cleaning solutions will pass readily over the chips during an immersion cleaning process while in the carrier. However, not all chips are satisfactorily cleaned by such immersion type cleaning. In particular, garnet chips containing magnetic bubble memory circuits are sometimes more efficiently cleaned by directing propelled streams of solvents upon delicate active surfaces while they are separately positioned in special arrays.
Accordingly, it is desirable to develop new and improved expedients for treating surfaces of articles with streams of a medium. It is further desirable to position the articles in special arrays so that the medium and any dislodged matter deflected from respective surfaces are not transferred to other surfaces being cleaned. It is also advantageous to transfer miniature articles such as solid state chips directly from available carriers onto cleaning fixtures without abrading delicate active surfaces on the chips.